Whether an Orange County (OC) judge signing warrants while he was in a foreign county is unlawful or a rule violation is unknown, according to an Orange County Superior Court official.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Thompson signed some 19 search warrants while visiting Canada and an outside law firm recommended alerting prosecutors and defense attorneys, according to media reports.
“We're not contending he violated any statute or law at this point,” said Jeff Wertheimer, the general counsel for the Orange County Superior Court system. “We don't know and that's the point.”
The discovery that Thompson signed search warrants while outside of the U.S. was made based on roaming charges found on his work-issued tablet. Thompson's current term ends on Jan. 4, 2027.
“Now that he issued these warrants outside the country, is it appropriate or not?” Wertheimer told the Southern California Record. “Does it create issues with the warrants? We don't know but we felt it was not appropriate for us to keep that a secret, so we turned it over to the justice partners, the DA, and the PD, and we'll let them decide.”
As previously reported in the Southern California Record, former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell said that Thompson is being unjustly investigated and that there is no mention of such a requirement in the Orange County Superior Court Local Rules. Cordell authored the book, Her Honor: My Life on the Bench...What Works, What's Broken, and How to Change It, after she retired.
“A judge can be in Canada and a judge can talk to the parties and exchange documents and do all of that but whether or not that's authorized in law is an entirely different question,” Wertheimer said. “If somebody does challenge it in court, then it's very likely going to set a precedent because, according to our research and the people that have looked at it on our behalf, this precise issue has never been before the courts before.”
Thompson’s attorney Paul S. Meyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“A lawyer could file a motion to quash whatever evidence that arose out of the granting of a warrant and if a judge decided, for whatever reason, that the warrant was invalid, then there's a possibility that whatever evidence was gathered from that warrant would be considered inadmissible,” Wertheimer added.
Whether Thompson will be disciplined is a state issue, according to Wertheimer.
“The court doesn't discipline judges,” he said. “The judges are not our employees.”
The State Commission on Judicial Performance, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, is holding its 2022 Biennial Rules Review this week by Zoom at 10 a.m. PST on Aug. 23.